Slovakia eyes public cost savings to meet 2014 budget gap target

By bne IntelliNews August 7, 2013

The Slovak finance ministry is working on finding ways to cut public expenditures in next year’s budget to compensate for an expected shortfall of more than EUR 1bn in revenue from taxes and social contributions, Hospodarske Noviny daily reported.

The cabinet has pledged to cut the budget deficit to 2.6% of GDP in 2014 from 2.94% planned for this year, according to its Stability Programme, a three-year budget plan that all eurozone countries submit to Brussels every year. But it now needs to adopt additional consolidation measures, as economic growth outlook has deteriorated sharply, leading to lower budget revenues. The new austerity measures will include mainly cost savings by the separate ministries, according to finance ministry spokesman Radko Kuruc.

The ministry should submit its 2014 budget proposal to the government by August 15. The draft budget bill should be tabled in parliament by October 15.

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